With the playoffs over, the playoffs all coming alive, and the 2022 championship campaign about to begin, what will we see in this foggy, stormy playoff?
2022, the changing times.
When was the last time the NBA changed times?
Ten years ago, in 2012.
That year, James and Durant met for the first time in the Finals, the road to the promotion of East Jensidou was the stripping of the NBA and the old time, James's "Pupil of Death" announced the collapse of the Boston Big Three, and the youth storm set off by Durant swept all the way to the three traditional giants of the Lone Rangers, Lakers and Spurs.
After 2012, although there was a brief "restoration" of the Spurs in 2014, the rush of the new era has become unstoppable. Curry's rise has made the league's competitive landscape three-legged, and in the 2012-2020 finals, at least one of Janduku's people, together they have created a new era and become the watchmen of this era.
However, in any new era, there will eventually be a day when it will get older.
2021 is a time node to initiate changes, and this year's finals, Janduku is all absent. James was out in the first round, Durant fell in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and Curry was turned away by the playoffs.
The protagonists of the championship battle became the 27-year-old Alphabet Brother and the 25-year-old Booker, and on the way to the Championship Series, the Alphabet Brother eliminated Durant, and Booker repelled James, like the 2012 change of dynasty.
Behind Brother Alphabet and Booker, the younger generation roared in. The 2021 playoff scoring champion is Doncic, who averaged 35.7 points per game, Trae Young, who made his first playoff appearance, led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals with an average of 28+9 per game, and Morant, who also stepped on the playoff battlefield for the first time, gave a personal show averaging 30+8 per game.
If the 2021 playoffs are a low chant that refreshes the basketball era, the 2022 playoffs may be impassioned. The 2021-22 regular season further subverted the basketball jianghu created by the previous superstars, the Mesozoic generation firmly occupied the center of the stage, and the new generation pushed the tide to gradually drown the old time.
Ten years ago, is the change of times happening again?
Three Kings Battle
In the NBA's official MVP competition list, Jokic, Alphabet Brother and Embiid competed for the three championships, Durant and Curry have briefly been on the list, but only to accompany the run, the league or will enter or has entered a new hegemonic cycle.
Alphabet brother in defense, he is last season's championship and finals MVP, has stood out in the mesozoic inner volume, but this is just the beginning, two consecutive championships and two consecutive FMVP is the ultimate goal of alphabet brother in 2022, the last two-consecutive team is Curry's Warriors, the last two-consecutive FMVP player is Durant.
Jokic is on the way, he was last season's regular season MVP, this season is expected to win consecutively, but the glory of the regular season is by no means his ceiling, the breakthrough of the playoffs is the ceiling, Murray and Porter's return date is uncertain for the Nuggets' journey, requiring Jokic to pull the core value to the full grid, just like James in 2018.
Embiid is exploring, he is the new scoring king, is the first center to dominate the scoring list after O'Neal in 2000, and the "Emperor" has released firepower in the regular season at the top level, but the playoffs are not the same level of competition. Alphabet brother is already a championship, Jokic has played in the Western Conference Finals, and Embiid has reached the second round of his career before, and he wants to explore the rules of the horse on the road to the crown. Guarding the lower limit of the playoffs for the team, Embiid has come to hand, leading the team to raise the ceiling, which is Embiid's test in 2022.
New forces strangled
The Mesozoic Three Kings race, and the sub-Mesozoic also plays an important role in the script of the times forward, Booker is the core of the first team in the regular season, Towns is the strongest big man in the league today, Tatum and Brown's double probing flower is full of talent and strength, and Mitchell, who entered the playoffs on time to bring up the scoring frenzy. The 2013 class of players represented by alphabet brothers as the starting point, to the 2017 class led by Tatum and Mitchell, constitute the main battlefield of the 2022 playoffs.
Just as in 2012, when James and Durant competed for the first throne in 2012, Curry of the 2009th began to accelerate on the road to greatness, and the 13th to 17th competitions of the 2022 playoffs can also hear the footsteps behind them, the 18th Doncic, Trae Young, Ayton, the 19th Morant, the 20th Edwards, the 21st Barnes and Cuminga, the back wave rolling forward the times.
In particular, Morant, a guard who once missed the varsity team in high school, counterattacked the basketball journey all the way, and the Grizzlies selected him for the next three years and three major steps to complete the reconstruction at an incredible speed. Morant's exploding style of the ball and the mentality of "not afraid of the sky" have become the basic plate of the Grizzlies' game mode and spiritual temperament, and this team has the strongest basket in the league and the fiercest defense, which builds the bottom card of the playoffs.
The old guys persevered
The Mesozoic Warband looks at the summit of the first man in the league, the younger generation pushes open the door to the new world, and the renewal of basketball is in progress at a high speed, but have those who once ruled the league really reached the moment of "abdicating and giving way"?
Durant's Nets are still a big candidate for the Eastern Conference championship, and although they only got their playoff tickets through the playoffs, there is a "basketball death" in it, and anything can happen.
Durant in the East guards the splendor of the old times, Curry in the West strives to make the glory come back, the Warriors return to the championship ranks with the third return of the West after two consecutive years of missing the playoffs, the return of the Klay Thompson king, and the reunion of the Warriors Dynasty trio, which is not only a sentiment, but also a guarantee of combat strength.
Curry is also from harden, DeRozan and Holliday in the 09th class, waiting for the playoffs. How can you ignore Paul, who leads the season assists list? He is the leader of the league's First Team and is looking forward to taking it to the next level after last season's Western Conference championship.
In the 2022 playoffs without James, the old guys can still fight against the wheels of time.
Waiting for the finale to be written
The 2022 playoffs are a "mystery" to look forward to, because no one, which team has the absolute pressure to write the finale in advance, and everyone who enters this game has a chance to become the ultimate winner in the collision of the times.
Xiang Yun ranked xiao array, killing Hehe Changhong. From the first round, the impact of the times was filled with smoke. Jokic vs. Curry, Tatum vs Durant, Alphabet Brother PK DeRozan, the two generations of stars face each other, the winner advances, the loser is out. Morant and Downs face each other, and Doncic meets Mitchell in a narrow road, a dialogue between the younger generation and the sub-Mesozoic generation, with the winner as the king and the loser as the coward.
As the playoffs move deeper, the war between the ages will become more and more intense, and the "mystery" will slowly open.
What kind of ending will that be? Is it the brilliant reconstruction of the old generation, the Mesozoic generation that dominates the world, or the new generation that overtakes in the corner, leave it to the race to write the answer.